Establish Online Trust, And Get The Badges To Prove It
Cleanliness, safety, hygiene - these are, without a doubt, today’s buzzwords. While staying in the comfort of our homes means that we get to make our own rules and take all the safety precautions necessary, when it comes to travel, concerns are bound to arise. The need for control is deeply embedded in human nature - in order to feel safe, especially during these uncertain times, we want to be on top of the situation and create a safe environment for ourselves and those close to us. We want to have things planned, confirmed - and with a trusted guarantee that all is well.
This is why, now more than ever, hoteliers find themselves with a great deal of responsibility. As a hotel manager, you need to restart business, make up for the financial hit taken during the lockdown months, and ensure thorough cleanliness and constant disinfection. All this while putting the guest first - without any ifs, ands, or buts. So how exactly can you showcase the extra effort you take in adhering to the stringent COVID-19 hygiene standards, ensure trust, and encourage bookings?
Comodo reported in a 2014 article that four out of five online shoppers know what a trust badge means, and 79% of shoppers expect to see a trust badge displayed on a website’s homepage. So, not showing any trust badges is likely hindering you from acquiring new sales, but it also may be contributing to your cart abandonment rate. Managing and supervising a staff of 22, I lead the creation of a high quality, internationally recognized, product. While in this position I was able to establish KPIs that decreased labor by 124. Digital certificates are electronic credentials that are issued to people and things, such as computers and other electronic devices, to enable secure communications and transactions in a virtual world. Nov 19, 2019 Finally, in the theme of earning trust, we love that mHelpDesk closes out its testimonial page with awards and badges of recognition. One of the first things we noticed about Clear Slide's testimonial page is how creatively it's named - 'What They're Saying.
Cue the Trusted Cleanliness badge by TrustYou. To support hoteliers in displaying a positive and highly important hotel trait right on the hotel website, we have developed the Trusted Cleanliness badge. As with the majority of hotel marketing efforts, it’s important to note that modern travelers prefer summarized content throughout their booking journey, which helps them get a clear impression of the hotel’s overall image in a quick and efficient way. While cleanliness and hygiene are crucial topics in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, trying to prove your compliance in those categories should be done in a condensed, easily-digestible, and highly effective manner.
The exclusive Trusted Cleanliness badge is based on an assessment survey that hotel management has to submit. The thorough and extensive survey consists of more than 50 questions meant to demonstrate the clear and stringent guidelines taken by the hotel in regards to cleanliness, safety, and hygiene on the premises. The badge is only awarded to properties that are enforcing strict safety and sanitation measures. The survey questions are targeted towards three main categories that are essential for the new hygiene and safety measures implemented by the relevant local, regional, and global health organizations and governmental authority: personnel, sanitation measures, and facility & services.
After submission, hotels that confirm to follow and implement the standard measures required in terms of health and cleanliness are awarded the TrustYou Cleanliness badge, which they can embed on their website. Visitors will then be aware of the hotel’s commitment regarding cleanliness, reinforced by TrustYou, and will have the option to click on the badge and see the details behind it. As with other foolproof hotel marketing widgets, the cleanliness badge enables travelers to verify the hotel’s efforts in a visually appealing way, which is also time-efficient and easy to consume.
The Trusted Cleanliness badge aims to deliver the following results:
- Reinforcing travelers’ confidence in the hotel’s compliance with the new health and safety standards
- Highlighting safety protocols and their day-to-day applicability
- Increasing your chances of getting a booking
- Marketing the hotel’s cleanliness as a key strength
- Showcasing the hotel’s interest in their guests’ safety and wellbeing
When we once again leave our homes and start traveling, we are challenged to surrender control, and find ourselves in the hands of transportation companies and accommodation providers. Traveling in 2020 inevitably comes with a great deal of vulnerability attached to our suitcases and lurking on the back of our minds.
As a hotelier, you need to, first and foremost, think of this new audience, the post-COVID traveler. From now on, your guests will be more cautious, more selective in their choices, and they will likely have more concerns and questions in the back of their minds than ever before. So why not put those concerns at rest at the very beginning of their journey - more exactly, in the booking phase? After months of lockdown, the guest reviews - that travelers would normally explore to get an inside look at the hotel experience - might be sparse or non-existent. It’s now completely up to you to showcase your efforts, your commitment to the new safety protocols, and to ensure enough trust to lead to a booking.
In order to find out more about the Trusted Cleanliness badge and how you can apply for it, please reach out to our team and we will gladly assist you in properly and effectively promoting cleanliness online.
Establish Online Trust And Get The Badges To Prove It Book
If you are looking for more information and insightful advice on how to push through the crisis and prepare for recovery, check out our COVID-19 resource library.
Establish Online Trust And Get The Badges To Prove It Free
Website security seals are ultimately about improving two things – trust and sales. And without the first, the second won’t follow. Small businesses with little-known brands always have a tough time persuading new customers that they’re a safe place to do business. And not only that orders will be honored and delivered as promised, but that the site itself is safe. That’s because unsafe sites can be a death-knell for customer trust and confidence, and perhaps even for the business.
That’s why there has been an explosion of website seals in the last few years. Some of the seals are very valuable and important, and a number of studies have found that the use of a trusted security seal on a website can significantly improve business. Businesses that offer donation and online fundraising, online stores, or other website-based platforms to generate revenue can greatly benefit from using trust seals. But some seals are of such questionable worth even the government has been forced to take action against them.
There are lots of seals to choose from, which can create lots of confusion, but most seals belong to one of the following categories:
Privacy – the company behind the website agrees to honor certain principles and promises about how your personal data will be collected, used, and shared.
Safe Shopping – while this is often presented as a secure site seal, it usually only means that the web site is using an SSL certificate and your transactions or purchases on the site are protected.
Security – unlike safe shopping, website security seals go far deeper. They verify that the site has been tested regularly for vulnerabilities and malware and has received the all-clear.
Business Reliability – the business has been determined to be trustworthy and reliable and has some process in place to address any disputes with customers. The Better Business Bureau, or BBB, is probably the most well-known seal in this category.
Customer Ratings – these seals are driven by what customers think of their experience with the business and whether or not it was a satisfactory one.
Buy Safe Guarantee – these seals are increasing in popularity, and usually, offer shoppers some kind of protection against any fraud or identity theft that result from using that site.
Some seal providers have gone a little too far on the promises they make. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had settled charges with a firm called ControlScan, which the FTC had charged with providing misleading claims about the value of its web seals. ControlScan offered a variety of seals, from business reputation to privacy, but apparently did very little to verify that the businesses using their seals actually complied with any specific requirements.
So while a website security seal can be a very valuable marketing and trust building tool, it pays to do your research and pick a seal that your customers can really trust.
There are nearly half a dozen consumer benefits of visiting or shopping a website with a security seal.
Establish Online Trust And Get The Badges To Prove It Online
- It shows you that the website, and more important the business behind it, are serious about their security and your trust.
- Your information won’t be plundered by hackers lurking on the site because the business owners weren’t protecting it properly.
- Your information won’t fall into the hands of spammers.
- Your computers or mobile devices won’t be infected with malware that’s hiding on that site – malware that can do incredible damage.
- The website meets strict PCI DSS compliance requirements on a wide variety of security issues, all of which are designed to minimize security risk and exposure.
Good website security seals are far more than an image on a web page. That image has to be earned, and usually by round-the-clock website vulnerability scanning that can put visitors and customer at risk. It eliminates the need to roll the dice. If the website has a respected security seal, you can rest easy that you’re entering a safe neighborhood and will still have your wallet or purse intact when you leave.
Establish Online Trust And Get The Badges To Prove It Movie
And best of all, you don’t have to take the website owner’s word for it. The site is tested independently by third party experts who won’t hesitate to remove the seal if discovered security holes are not plugged.
And don’t forget – the SiteLock Trust Seal comes with any of our plans, and are proven to increase sales. Learn more by contacting us today at 855.378.6200.